The DARE was written in response to a request from an indigenous service in Western Australia, the DARE was written to raise awareness of the problem of Lateral Violence in indigenous communities. Upon further research, the author decided to include domestic and family violence and to offer the program to non-indigenous participants, to raise awareness to a broader audience.
Lateral violence, also known as Internalised Colonialism or Horizontal Violence, occurs when a long-oppressed people group feel so powerless that they turn against each other. From the bottom of the pecking order, instead of fighting unified against their oppressors, they unleash their fear, anger, and frustration laterally, against their own people. Realizing a false sense of power or influence, those who act out in lateral violence are not fully aware of the trauma they propagate. For indigenous communities, lateral violence is a part of a larger cycle of hurt that has its roots in colonisation, trauma, racism, and discrimination.
Domestic and family violence are also serious social problems, a national health concern impacting both individuals and communities. As children are exposed to this violence, they normalize it and perpetuate it.
The DARE program seeks to break the violence cycle in all communities by raising awareness of this problem in children and young people. To do this, the author has used the Family Systems Theory approach to show how domestic, family, and lateral violence interact in indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
DARE seeks to raise participants’ awareness so that dysfunctional patterns will not be repeated in their other relationships. Awareness helps break the cycle of violence.
The DARE course consists of the following 6 two-hour **sessions- **
Session One – Understanding the three Vs through stories and interviews
Session Two – Developing Awareness of Domestic Violence
Session Three – Developing Awareness of Family Violence
Session Four – Developing Awareness of Later Violence and other Forms of Violence
Session Five – Understanding and Responding to Adverse Childhood experiences (ACE)
Session Six – Summary, Evaluations and Awards
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Each session runs for approximately 2 hours per **week. **
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The DARE facilitators training is a one day’s training program beginning around
930am and finishing around **330pm. **
Interventions Plus is a service dedicated to breaking this cycle by offering counseling.
